"HE IS NOT MY SON!"
At this a jagged sigh tore out of Se-na's tiny throat before she could stop it. Her small hands flew up to cover her mouth, her eyes wide as she stared at the man who looked like a monster.
Do Hyun-joo didn't stop. He didn't look at the blood on the floor or the way the little boy was shaking. He stepped over the sobbing woman, his leather shoes crunching on the broken porcelain. He stared at the boy with eyes full of pure, freezing hatred.
"Look at him," Hyun-joo whispered, his voice trembling with a terrifying kind of disgust. "Look at the way he cowers. Look at those pathetic, watery eyes."
"THIS THING IS CLEARLY NOT MINE!"
Then he pulled a silver chain in the kid's neck and yanked it so hard that it grazed the delicate skin of his neck.
The woman immediately reached out with trembling fingers, grabbing the hem of his suit jacket to keep him from hurting the kid. "Hyun-joo, please," she sobbed, her voice thick with desperation. "Do a paternity test. Please. If you don't believe me, let the doctors prove it to you! He is your flesh and blood! Just one test, I beg you!"
Hyun-joo froze. Slowly, he looked down at the hand clutching his expensive jacket. Then, in one swift, violent motion, he shoved her away. She fell back against the sharp edge of the dining table, gasping in pain.
Before she could recover, he lunged to her and grabbed her by the cheek, his fingers clamping into her skin. Se-na watched in horror as his nails dug deep into the woman's skin, drawing tiny beads of blood. He pulled her face close to his, his eyes wide and unblinking.
"IF …I SAY…." he pointed to the boy, "THAT IS NOT MINE!" then he looked back at her, "THEN HE IS NOT MINE!" he said in a low, creepy whisper that made the hair on Se-na's neck stand up. "Do you understand?"
Woman was whimpering like a child. It was clear that she was hurt and sad and maybe accustomed to this as well.
"I SAID DO YOU UNDERSTAND!" woman nodded with desperation. Hyun Joo, let her go and then stood up and started to wipe his hand off the dining table sheet.
"My word is the only law in this house." He looked over his shoulder at her, "I don't need a needle and a lab to tell me I've been cursed with a bastard who is not even strong."
He put his hand on her head and squeezed it hard, ignoring her whimpers of pain. "Understand?!"
"Y-yes," she choked out.
Before he could do anything worse, the heavy front doors of the mansion swung open. The sound of clicking heels echoed through the grand hallway. A woman in a sharp, elegant suit walked in, stopping dead when she saw the carnage in the dining room. It was Do Hyun-joo's step-mother.
Hyun-joo's face didn't change, but he released his wife with a disgusted flick of his wrist. He stood up straight, smoothing out his jacket and again wiping his hand off the sheet. He looked down at the woman on the floor and spat to the side; a gesture of pure, filth-ridden contempt.
The older woman looked at the broken vase and the weeping wife. Her face hardened into a mask of cold fury. "What is this mess, Hyun-joo?" she asked, her voice like dry paper. "Is this how a man of your status behaves? You are acting like a common thug."
She didn't wait for him to answer. Her eyes landed on the six-year-old body Se-na was trapped in; all bleeding, shaking, and covered in his own mess. Her expression softened instantly. She rushed across the room, ignoring the broken glass.
"Oh, my poor child," she whispered and dropped to her knees pulling the kid into a tight hug.
Se-na felt the woman's expensive perfume and the warmth of her arms. The child's body clung to her, sobbing into her shoulder. The older woman looked up at Do Hyun-joo with eyes that could cut through stone.
"This is the least I expected from a son I spent my whole life raising," she snapped, her voice trembling with disappointment. "To terrorize a child? One your own? To strike a woman? One your own?"
He is not my son!!! He is not worthy of the name Do!"
"DO? They? Noo…YOU ARE…a disgrace to this name. Coward!"
Hyun-joo's jaw tightened. He looked like he wanted to scream and hit the old woman, but he couldn't find it in him. With a final, hateful glance at the boy in her arms, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the house. The roar of his car engine echoed through the walls a moment later.
The mother on the floor didn't wait. She scrambled to her feet, her face still bleeding from his nails, and ran toward the stairs. She didn't look back at the boy or the step-mother. She just disappeared into her room.
Now only the kid and old woman were the only ones left in the quiet of the dining room. Old woman pulled back and looked at the boy's face.
"Don't listen to him, Ra-ik-a," she whispered, wiping his tears with a silk handkerchief.
Se-na felt the small boy's heart slow down just a little. The warmth of the hug was the only thing keeping the darkness at bay. But as she looked down at the red footprints she had made on the floor she was flushed with embarrassment. Old woman followed the kid's direction and then both looked at each other and old woman chuckled. And Se-na wanted to die right at that moment, she tried to smile back after all it was normal and expected of a kid but instead her lip started quivering and a tear fell from her eyes…
Continue to read ahead at patreon accuscripter